der-dum. der-dum.

I’m not one to shy away from controversial opinions. I preferred Kill Bill vol. 2. I enjoyed Jackie Brown. I defended Godfather III, for goodness sake, and now is not the time to back down.

John Williams. Good composer. Bad movie composer.

What?!?!?! I hear you say.

Now hold on a moment, let’s break this down. John Williams has written some of the most amazing, recognisable enduring film themes ever. I might mention Jaws and Star Wars, particularly the endlessly iconic Darth Vader theme. E.T. Schindler’s List. Harry Potter.


Music is a director’s most powerful tool. It should be there, underpinning the action. Music makes Trainspotting fun, instead of drab, and makes True Romance beautiful instead of just crude. It can change the whole feeling of a film. It supports the action, and makes damn sure you feel happy when happy things happen, and sad when things go bad.

But it needs to be subtle. To manipulate you without you realising you’re being manipulated. M. Night says he makes sure the scene works on its own without music before even thinking about it. JW’s music just demands too much attention – it sounds great in concert, or as a great work heard in one glorious go, but his orchestrating is…lousy. It’s not the tunes I object to; just the way he uses it. It drags you out of the movie instead of immersing you in the mood.

I’ll be the first to admit he writes great themes. Raiders of the Lost Ark anyone? But his style belongs to an older world of composing, back in the 50s and 60s when everything had a orchestra-default accompaniment. Often when I see those good films swamped by their scores, I wonder whether they are generic enough that you could swap them without the scores of similar films without anyone noticing.

Saving Private Ryan is the film which brought this on. What the hell were they thinking? The last thing it needed was a flag-waving theme tune. SPR is in "war is hell" mode from start to finish. We didn't need graveside salutes, quotes from Abe Lincoln or those damn horns in the background - it was out of keeping with the tone elsewhere. Particularly those clumsy horns, squeaking all over scenes which were powerful enough without them. Every time it cranked up, I wanted to batter the players to death with their own instruments. How dare they put their whining over the scene when Millar breaks down and cries? That was a cinematic crime.

But the rest of them are bad as well. Take Harry Potter, with Hedwig's theme stomping all over it. The music has no magic, or life of its own - he uses no interesting concepts or instruments to make his orchestra sound any different to

Look at Lord of the Rings. You can argue the music is under the film constantly, but under is the key word here: you hardly notice it until you become familiar with the tunes by, e.g., listening to the CD. And Howard Shore is inventive with his sound palatte as well. The Rohan theme isn't played by violins. What you're listening to is the Viking hardinger, or something - it sounds familiar, and alien at the same time. What about the oddball percussion used for the Ents, or the clanging chains for the Orcs? And it's never too much for the scene.

Contrast John Williams and his perfect, unchanging orchestra (or so it seems) What of the upbeat Jaws music. The der-dums are a classic in their own right, but the "everything's OK" tune seems out of place in the film - he writes music, not film music.

Next time you watch a John Williams film, take a step back from his name and look at how well the music actually works with the images. It jars so badly for me...


...while I'm being picky about respected composers, I don't like Thomas Newman that much either...

My Top Howevermany Fave Soundtracks

The Top Ten Favourite Soundtracks Ever (in my most humble opinion and containing only films I have come into contact with so far) featuring the Seven Greatest Random Uses of Music Ever.

Just to qualify exactly what I'm doing. It's pretty much just that - great soundtracks, with occasional "special mention" for moments made great by their music. So with no further ado...

17 Wayne's World (special mention)
"Gentlemen, I think we'll go with a bit of Bohemian Rhapsody" Cue a hundred parodies on family holidays. It's now the default way to announce switching on the car radio.

16 Once Upon A Time In The West (special mention)
It's all good, of course, but one track sticks in my mind - the harmonica theme. It is actually one of the saddest pieces of music I've ever heard, just after the Requiem from Evita. Powerful and yearning, it totally yanks you into the protagonist's state of mind whenever it comes in.

15 Knights Tale (special mention)
The original music in this film is really pretty, especially Jocelyn's theme, but that's not why it's here. The notable bits: We Will Rock You in the tournement ground sung by Mexican-waving peasants and the segue to Golden Years during a medieval banquet.

14 the Rocky Horror Picture Show
I did kinda promise myself I wouldn't use musicals-turned-into-films (to keep Evita and Jesus Christ Superstar off the list), but this hardly counts, as the movie has about equal status with the show. These tunes are just infectious - my sister and I are medium-large RHPS nuts, and we frequently scream along in a semblance of several parts.

Best moment: Well my favourite tune is Superheroes, but Dammit Janet also deserves a mention. Not to forget the Time Warp...

13 Zulu (special mention)
Again, the whole soundtrack is good, though not great. The standout moment is when our brave Brit heroes burst into a rousing rendition of Men of Harlem.

12 Memento
Memento’s built around two really really simple but effective themes. There’s the wobbly, edgy one in the black and white bits and there’s the upsetting one for colour sequence. Movie music enhances the mood, bad movie music tells you how to feel. M. Night never even thinks about the music until he’s sure the scene can work on its own, which I commend. The joy of Memento is that while the music matches the scenario, it’s really understated and gives the rest of the film space to breathe – it’s never used to prop up the emotions. At the same time, when you do notice it, it’s achingly beautiful and entirely suitable. And makes me cry.

11. O Brother Where Art Thou

It's probably not everyone's cup of tea, but I love this album and listen to it endlessly. Man of Constant Sorrow is a fab tune, and the moment when they start singing at the concert and the crowd goes wild makes my spine tingle every time. In Classical civilisations, we're studying the Odyssey and I mentioned this film several times as being great. Anyway, my teacher (who seems to be the sort who hibernates in chalk-dust until they wake him up and wheel him out once a week. In a nice way xD) took my recommendation and, along with this, got a copy for us to watch. Oh dear...I feel like I've kinda misrepresented it...


10 LOTR: TT (extended version)

The LOTR music is all excellent, but I settled on Two Towers as the best. Just because I always pick on it as the best of the three in all ways. Even though I definitely prefer FOTR. I'm just a hypocrite. The Rohan theme tune is just great, as is the Gondor music.

Best Moment: the stuff at the end of Helm's Deep. Makes my eyes brim every time.

9 Shaun Of The Dead (special mention)
You know the bit I mean, right? Trapped in the Winchester pub, our heroes think their situation can't get any worse - until the jukebox starts playing Don't Stop Me Now of its own accord. Best zombie-killing tune ever!

8 Reservoir Dogs (inevitable and special mention)

There are some songs which make you go "ah, I'm home..." when you hear them, they're comfortingly familiar. Little Greem Bag is the only song ever to make me do that the first time I heard it. And is just so infectiously cheery, that it casts a lighter edge on the rest of the film. Especially when they start pulling the sound of Messrs White and Orange in the car up underneath. That may be one of the best bits of editing in cinema ever...

Interesting fact - the original pick for this sequence was Money by Pink Floyd. Hmmm, I can see where that idea came from with a same sort of beginning, but personally it would just not have worked. Money is nowhere near as fun.

7 Signs
Three notes repeated in endless combinations. Sounds irritating, but really it's great. It can be creepy, curious and most importantly it can do sadness...

Best Moment: ...is at the very end when those three notes run through the entire gamut of emotion, and actually scrapes through every variation on the theme within about two minutes. I think it's probably the wuvviness of the music that unfailingly causes me to blubber at the end.

6 Lost Boys

This film is conclusive proof that a fantastic soundtrack spruces up a slightly iffy film. You can't watch this one quietly. The shot starts swooping over the sea, and the music kicks in...I don't have many soundtracks on cd. If you know the music too well, you notice it in the film which always annoys me. Not only do I own this, I listen to it far more than anything else in the house. Cry Little Sister is the obvious standout track, with both a yell-alongworthy tune, and indecipherable lyrics so you can't actually do so. It's so frustrating...

5 5th Element (special mention)

Yes, I can sing along. And do. In the shower and whenever everyone's out. It doesn't sound great - ok, so sing might have been an exaggeration. I squeak and scream to get the notes. But can you blame me?! It's just amazingly cool. Interesting fact you may not have wanted to know: this is the only reason I wanted to watch 5th Element, because it's just so fantastic.

4 The Village

So perhaps the film isn't quite the genius work we expect from M. Night, but the music more than makes up for it. James Newton Howard is probably my favourite composer. It's just unbelievavly beautiful music, and yes this one makes me cry as well.

And lucky for you guys - I found the entire album here.

Best moment: Ivy waiting at the door for Lucius. The music is wonderful, just soaringly wuvvy.

3 Moulin Rouge

This soundtrack is much more than a spruced up version of a ton of classics. The arrangement of the tunes is entirely different, which may not mean much to the musically-unenlightened, but basically means they haven't just snagged it off the cd: they've entirely rewritten the accompaniment and everything. And created some of the most beautiful tunes ever committed to celluloid. The best example can only be the Tango de Roxanne. It starts with a famous-so-famous-you'll-recognise-it tango, then fits Roxanne over the top and when you think it can't get any better, in comes Ewan McGregor with this wonderful, soaring original counter-tune over the top. 200% genius and totally great.

Best Moment: oh, too many to count. Heroes in the Elephant Medley. The first time Come What May comes in. And that counter-melody over the Tango de Roxanne. Snuffle...

2 Donnie Darko
A mix of both original tracks and stuff by bands one of my friends likes. Lets start with the former. Beautiful. Achingly, hauntingly beautiful - Gretchen’s theme brings actual tears to my eyes every time I hear it. Frank’s pounding tune is spooky beyond belief, and the rest of the tunes rest somewhere between mysterious and quirky. The choice of song not only matches the mood, the lyrics match the plot. Love will tear us apart, Mad World – and speaking of Mad World, well, you can’t possibly claim to like it until you’ve seen it here. Enjoy it the way it was meant to be. But the director’s cut version of the music is NOWHERE NEAR as good as the usual one. Savvy?

Best moment: Gretchen runs out of the classroom, followed by Donnie; cue tears...

Whole thing here.

1 Spy Game
It can be roughly subdivided into three main themes. There’s the ethnic singing, haunting and vewy pwetty. There’s the sentimental strings which are achingly gorgeous. And there’s the inevitable rocky bits which work terrifically at the very end. The thing is, the music really shapes the mood of the piece. It’d be easy for this to be a thriller, or an action flick but the sentimental nature of the music lends it an unusually nostalgic air, rendering it a far more quiet, thoughtful film. I realise that’s entirely the opposite to what I just said about Memento, but what the hell – I’m right. This music is beautiful beyond belief - my favourite theme is the one which accompanies Robert Redford's bits, the celloy stuff. Unfortunately, my usual music website doesn't have any of it on there...so hard luck...

Best moment: at the veeery end of the movie, the words "In memory of Elizabeth Jean Scott" come up. That moment...*blubbers*


Things learnt from this excercise - An alarming number of my favourites make me cry, I like my music subtle and beautiful over orchestral and intrusive (John Williams conspiciously absent) and Queen improves any soundtrack. Schindler's List would have been far better with more Queen, as would Vertigo. Probably.

Things I somehow missed and couldn't be bothered to add: I love the Highlander music, School of Rock's tunes are cool, Constantine's main theme is atmospheric, Son of a Preacher Man makes me smile when I hear it, Mustang Sally in The Commitments and Raindrops Keep Falling on my Head is the most annoying song ever, until you hear it in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, at which point I realised precicely how wuvvy it is...

Review-the shout

The Shout

Now I'm going to be honest about this - the only reason I watched this film was because it was 60p in Oxfam and rare-because-no-one-wants-it (as opposed to the films which are rare-because-everyone-wants-it) and because of a few words at the beginning. Those words were:

Original music by

VTONY BANKS & MICHAEL RUTHF

Which may not mean much to you, especially as the screen-whatever was slightly out, so the letters "ANT" and "ORD" were lopped off either end of the names. But to me it means that the music was written by two members of Genesis, and that makes me incredibly excited. Favourite band. Totally great. Nice music samples streaming here.

So the first comment must surely be, was the music any good? Well, for those of you who are 'in the know', the tune used was "From the Undertow", from "A Curious Feeling", from Tony Banks' solo album. A tune I've always kinda liked but forgotten. Well let us put it this way, it is an EXCELLENT choice for the film - you will never hear it the same way again. Especially in the credit sequence, which might I add is one of the best I've seen all year - sand dunes with a distant figure tottering about, accompanied by this wailing, haunting music which and ebbs and flows and is just plain creepy, really. I tried to find you an online version, but there don't seem to be any. Here is a midi version someone's done. That'll give you the idea, but of course it's not the same...

Oh yes, and the film? well needless to say, as soon as it was over I went back and watched the credit sequence again. What, you mean the film? Oh...well I suppose I could say somethings about it...

This film is all about sound - some of the noises created by the organist while creating experimental music are supremely weird, and when seated against the music...the plot of this film is more or less the story of a man who possesses a terrible shout, "a sound that could kill someone from a distance" (well we're having a musical issue, so let's quote Kate Bush while we're at it) and what happens when he is taken in by a chuch organist and his wife.

At the same time, the story is being narrated to Tim Curry during the village vs asylum cricket match. The first thing which is said to Tim Curry's character is "Don't look up my skirt!". Admittedly the woman in question is mad, but it made me laugh seeing as I can't think of him without thinking of the Rocky Horror Picture Show. Alan Bates is very good as the vaguely charming but also entirely terrifying narrator. He introduces it by saying something like "it's a true story...but sometimes I change the order of events and I change what happens at the end", which I thought was great.

Another scene which made me grin was the key change when the organist enters the church late. Felt pretty sorry for him, really. And his wife. And the dog.

The nice thing about this film was that I'd never really seen anything like it before, and I genuinely had no idea what was coming next. The production quality was a bit...odd...perhaps it was because the house where most of the action was set was run down, I'm not sure. I can't think of the word I want. There was the odd lovely camera shot in here too.

But in the end, it all comes back to sound. Music maketh movies, and in a film all about noises this is especially true. Can't say for certain if I would have noticed it if I hadn't known who wrote it. I think I would have as it was so well suited, but you never know.

And what of the Shout itself? Well, my mother ran from the other end of the house to see what was going on. Nothing can prepare you. Shivered my skin...

Rating: 3.5/5

Was it good? Yes, quite. Did I like it? Sort of...it was a bit unsettling, really.

Based on the Titanic thing from yesterday, there's a great quiz idea. Identify all the clips which have been mashed together. Some good guesses can be seen here:http://www.filmwise.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=6198

Feel free to comment any you can spot here.

Speaking of comments, I got my first comment! It really made my day, and whoever you are I want to say a big thank you for making me feel wanted and loved. Things like this do my ego no end of good...

Facibo ipse praebeo hic non est nego...

Been doing much hard revision, between pining for my missing boxset. My kind friend who is currently taking good care of it (I think...) keeps sending me ransom letters, containing photos of it in perilous situations. She's even started on shredded bits of black paper. Of course, I don't believe for an instant it's actually from my precious DVDs...not one bit...not worried at all...if she puts a scratch on it, she's going to be in trouble...




Apart from introducing her to my little friend, she'll regret it anyway...I bought her a present for when I get it back. Nothing big, but I think she'll like it. After all, I know how to repay a favour...

Luckily enought, I've been saving up programs such as "Hollywood Greats: Marlon Brando" and "The Godfather and the Mob", which I'm clinging to for short, out of context clips.
Both were interesting. I know think Mr Brando 4 million times cooler than I did before. The man seems to despise Hollywood, doing consistently crappy films purely for the cash. Waste of talent? Whatever, I admire him for it...they also included a film of him flirting with a journalist. She was entranced, as was I - he is very...very good.
"The Godfather and The Mob"was ok too, only they evidently couldn't afford the rights to the music, which meant we had to sit through a torturous substitute. Imagine the main theme with the horn, only change random notes so you can't be sued. Horrible...the content was OK though, some very interesting stuff. Luca Brasi was played by a real hit man, for example, who wanted a change of career. And James Caan got under police supervision because he was seen hanging around with real mobsters.

In fact, I've got an awful lot to chat about today. But as I'm meant to be revising, I'll save it as it's pretty unconnected. Most of it. Apart from this bit.
http://www.jgeoff.com/godfather.html
Nice website, eh? Timelines, the tree from part two, a map of the Don's office...Christ, the man's even more obsessive than me. None of that, however, was what got my pulse going. What sprung out at me was an address: "Luna Restaurant located on White Plains Road just off Gun Hill Road in The Bronx, New York. "

Which is pretty convenient for my sister, because she wants to visit NY as her favourite author lives there, and she's known for going to dinner with fans. And it's pretty convenient for me, because if I have to listen to the two of them discuss those awful books for a few hours, I might be ready to come out of the loo with a gun in my hands...

Hypothetically, of course. I've almost certainly told you the story about the first time I visited a restaurant after watching said film. If I haven't, you can probably guess my reaction. Needless to say I said nothing for the entire meal, and I didn't eat much of my pasta either...I'm a self-confessed coward, and I'd probably have a heart attack if I came within a meter of the place, and you didn't see me last year when we did the Lord of the Rings locations which was my idea of torture, but still...*makes waving motions with hands, as if somehow that will make explaning easier*


Final word - I've now got a radio.blog playlist of movie music. It's great! From the sweeping Last of the Mohecans and Out of Africa tunes, to the panifully cool Matrix and Kill Bill, through the electro cheese of Highlander and Top Gun to a version of "Raindrops keep Falling on my Head" sung in Japanese and French (I know...). And the Godfather theme tune. Of course. Anyway, here's the link to it: http://www.radioblogclub.com/fav/0/687015/0

It's a seriously cool list of music...

Review - Cromwell, plan for the rescoring of old movies and the importance of being brown

I've decided to abandon the quote titles. It's a waste of time, no one answers because no one reads and basically it's shouting down a deep dark well in the hope that there's someone at the bottom who'll reply. So far, only echoes.

This lunch time I saw a cracking film! Yes, enthusiasm! When was the last time you saw me enthusiastic? Not recently I'll warrant. Here we go!

But first, a word of warning. Below, there is one absolutely massive spoiler which will be crushingly revealing to anybody who doesn’t know anything about English history. If you are blissfully unaware of who wins and what happens to the loser, then this is your

Cromwell
Plot synopsis: a gentleman farmer gradually becomes disillusioned and...hell, you know the story of the English Civil War, right?

What was good:
This is the most fun I’ve had in front of a TV screen for a long time. I adore the Civil War, I was positively obsessed when we did it at school. My friends and I recreated the battle of Nasbey with our toys on “Tutor a Teddy” day (my polar bear, Snowy, was one of the cardinals). I am, by the by, a vicious royalist and let me first say I was overjoyed with the very sympathetic portrayal of the King himself. One of those wonderful performances governed in twitches, he brimmed with a kind of trembling insanity but also radiated nobility. Hats off to Sir Alec.

Of course, he only seemed to steal the show because the show officially belonged to someone else, Mr Cromwell. Historically speaking, I despise the Parlimentarians and think Cromwell is a bloody minded dictator. To overcome that in my mind is a feat indeed. Though the loud speeches get predictable after a while, they never fail to be stirring in this other stella performance. You truly feel his pain. He starts out loyal enough, but betrayal after betrayal makes his own principles fall by the wayside as he turns into that which he sought to remove.
These two wonderful characters lead to an electric stand off between the two powerful men. Without that, it would have been just another “aye in good faith sir” period drama, with stagy sets and dodgy music. The battle of strong wills lifted it to an entire new level.

The entire cast seemed to be plucked from the Royal Shakespeare Company, occasionally making it seem like the production of Hamlet the studio forgot. The words “I swear” and “in the name of God” were used about once every 10 minutes. That got me pretty excited too…
Honourable mention must go to Prince Rupert. Returning to my schooldays, I adored Prince Rupert. I had a picture of him in my locker, attempted to read a weighty military history and cheered him on in the various battles. Yes, my first teen crush was on a very long dead guy, who in real life was probably as evil as the rest of them. Whatever! I’m still a bit in love…he positively sparkles – the dashing, foreign foppish nephew of the king, very fond on fighting. I was especially pleased to see his dog – you see, he always took his dog with him to battles, and the Puritans claimed it was the devil in animal form. And I absolutely melted during his last scene.

In fact, for a period flick the history seemed pretty accurate to me. Granted I only ever learnt it from a yr 8 level of complexity, but I didn’t notice any glaring errors.

What was bad:
I take it back, there were a fair few. Oliver Cromwell, to my memory, escaped the chamber with the rest of his friends but I’m glad they squidged history because it makes for excellent drama (see best scene). I also noticed some ridiculous charges from the cavalry, but it wasn’t that important.

Indeed they didn’t squidge enough history. It would have made a better story, I think, if Charles had won (or at any rate, lived) and hung every single one of them!

I also wish it had carried on in the tone of the first few minutes. The opening shots are lovely, and it almost felt like the director was ticking boxes. He’d done beauty, now he didn’t need to worry about it any more. Which is a great pity because although mentally I know it is not true, and morally I know it is a wrong belief, in my heart I deeply feel that all films should be beautiful. I certainly prefer them if they are. For me above anything else, it’s about the colours and shadows. This is probably why I didn’t enjoy Vertigo (other than the fact I watched it at four in the morning). This is also probably why I preferred the first Godfather film - more brown than blue. It shouldn’t be important, but to me it is…if you look at my top 10, The Godfather, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Fellowship of the Ring (primarily the Shire scenes) and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead all have one vital little thing in common. And that thing is brown.

Final anti-kudos goes to the music which, like all old-movie music, was discordiant and out of place, distracting, melodramatic and generally irritating. It would be nice to start a project whereby these old films are given new music. Now, in an age where the orchestra is not the only musical tool. For example, Howard Shore used lots of weird instruments to create the different Middle Earth feels. Percussion for the ents, a Norwegan violin (hardinger, I think it was called) for Rohan. Way back when that sort of thing was unthinkable. Music makes a movie. Think of Top Gun without that infectious rock soundtrack - trash, right? One of my favorite films is Lost Boys. It's about biker vampires. Yeh, I know, but it's lifted from being total rubbish by an awsome theme tune. Our good movie oldies only feel old because the music is so drastically wrong. I'm not suggesting we rescore them with 50 Cent tunes. We hire professional composers to treat them as if they were any modern film, don't play them the old soundtrack, and see what they come up with. I guarentee you it would resurrect many ancient films and turn them into minor classics. But I very seriously digress...

Best Scene: Look forward to Cromwell’s speech to the King when he visits him after the blindfold game with his children. That’s for patriotic people. I loved Rupert’s last scene best. Oooh, and I forgot to mention the time Charles visits the Parliament with his soldiers. That’s great also.

Was it good? The acting was superb, and that’s a compliment coming from someone who generally despises actors.
Did I like it? Yes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Recommended for: Anyone who appreciates brilliant performances; students too lazy to revise properly; any of Prince Rupert’s other teen fangirls (don’t laugh, there must be some somewhere!); Royalists or Parliamentarians keen to cheer on their side; patriotic Brits or anyone who has ever silently mumbled the words “this sceptred isle…” in awe and love.

Don’t watch if you: are a military historian and have issues when movie tactics are way off; are a really sensitive Catholic (and I mean really sensitive. Hey, you could be offended by the whole pro-Puritan slant!); are prone to numb-bum syndrome (this one clocks in at two and a half hours)


I looked at my bumper list this morning and noticed how many four star movies were on there. Perhaps it's just because I've had a sheltered upbringing and never seen the crap? Whatever. Anyway, I decided to be stricter - less 4 star movies. More 3s. In my rating system, 3 is a good movie, 4 is exceptional, 5 is celluloid immortality - this is a movie that will never die. In all my years of watching, I have only ever awarded two five star films. Why do I seem to have a problem with the 4s? I don't know...all I can say is my resolution failed. Super Size Me, 4/5. Cromwell, 4/5.